SAN FRANCISCO – On a night they honored the memory of Russ Hodges’ famous “The Giants win the pennant” call of Bobby Thomson’s home run, J.T. Snow stole the home run thunder with a memorable three-run pinch-hit blast off Armando Benitez that tied the game 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth.

As the sellout crowd of 40,430 at Pac Bell Park went completely berserk, Snow danced around the bases, along with Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent, the runners ahead of him. Turns out the Giants partied too hard, too early. The Mets came back to win in the 10th on Darryl Hamilton’s two-out double and Jay Payton’s lined single to center off Felix Rodriguez. All five of the Mets runs came with two outs.

“I don’t remember much about going around the bases,” Snow said of his first career pinch-hit home run and only the fifth-ever pinch home run in Division Series history, all coming in the National League. “But I’d trade it all in for a win. It really doesn’t matter now. We lost. We have got to come back and win [tomorrow] in New York.”

Snow went from hero to afterthought in the matter of one inning.

“It was a fastball,” he said of the blast that hugged the right-field line. “And I got pretty good wood on it. But it really doesn’t matter. We lost a game that it would have been nice to win.”

Snow lifted the ball down the line and over the picturesque 35-foot high wall and just inside the foul pole. As the arcing fly was leaving the park, the crowd held its collective breath. There was a “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” cheer when the ball landed in the seats. It was a Kirk Gibson-like moment, a Thomson replay without the final result.

“At that point,” manager Dusty Baker said, “it appeared we were going to win the game.”

“Sure it meant something at the time,” Snow said. “It got us back in it. But give them a lot of credit, too. Hamilton had a clutch two-out basehit. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Both teams are playing hard, and it showed tonight. We battled back and they battled back. We just have to pick ourselves up after this.”

What could have been one of the greatest moments in Giants’ history – next year will be the 50th anniversary of Thomson’s home run – became a chapter to another stirring Met victory.